Saucy reduction

So saute the broccoli a bit then add about 1 1/2 pints cream and let that reduce for awhile.

Making it bigger

I figured since I cooked the whole box of pasta, I'll chop more broccoli.  This would be much better with some grilled chicken, but I gotta use what we have and what's convenient.

Perfect

Came out perfect.  Spend some time and make your own bread, it is one of the greatest things on earth.

Breads done

Enjoy

Dinner!

What's for dinner? There's no name for it, don't cook within the boundaries of tried and true.  Just put stuff together and enjoy.

Cheese

Turned the heat off, added shredded parmesan, then will chop up chicken patties and toss in.

Pasta meets broccoli

Dumped the pasta into the cream and broccoli concoction.  Letting it cook a bit like this to reduce some more.

Final rise

Oven is heating to 375, I knifed the loaves.

Chicken

Chicken patties from Costco.  Good thing to have in the freezer

Saucy

Added all the cream i had to the broccoli, about a pint and a half.  Now to let it boil then simmer and reduce

Saucy beginnings

Due to budget cuts, I don't have a good pot for the sauce, so break out the dutch oven.  Yet another kitchen workhorse.

CHOPPING BROCCOLI!!!

SNL...

Broccoli

Decided to defrost the broccoli in water, then dried and squeezed the moisture out

Another experiment

See a pattern here?  I make stuff up as I go.  I eat something different almost every night, why not throw whatever you have together.   We have frozen broccoli, some pasta, cream, parmesan cheese, and fried chicken patties.  Sounds like dinner

Final rise

I cut the dough on half and jammed each bit into the pan.  It's a little less this time, but will still be good sized loaves.  It's time for the final rise, probably an hour or so and then into a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes

Beat down!

Here's me punching my dough.  Now that all the air is out and it is compliant, I will cut it in half and put into buttered and floured 9x5 loaf pans.

First rise

First rise is complete.  Now to punch down...that's the technical term, punch the dough, forcing all the air out of it.

Starting first rise

Rolled the dough into a ball then into an oiled bowl.  Put a wet paper towel over it and let it double in size.  Will be an hour or so

Dough

Added bread flour and worked it together with my hands till it became a dough.  There is a lot of technique in it to not make as much a mess, but you will pick it up as you go.  Work with your hands, make sure they are clean and your counter is too...

Time to relax

I added a tablespoon of vegetable oil and a tablespoon of kosher salt, whisked that up.  Added a cup or so of flour, to about the consistency of pancake batter.  I let this sit for awhile and I relax.  The yeasties are activating, and the flour is some food for them to help them out a bit.  For flour I buy a 50 lb bag of bread flour at Costco for $12-14, that will last me a few months, its nice to have a huge bin of flour.  Bread flour is the way to go and bulk..bread is supposed to be cheap. 

Breadmaking 101

This is my starter, which I could write pages on how to make one, different techniques, all the variables, etc.    I will keep this simple, through experimentation I found the way I like to make starter.  Breadmaking is an artform and the starter is your canvas...or stone, or whatever.  This starter I cheated a bit and used store bought yeast, I have made starter from nothing but flour, water, and molasses before, but takes too long.  This starter is about 2 cups water and 1 cup flour.  I added about 1/2 tablespoon of yeast to that, mixed it up, cut up a tshirt and got a rubber band.  Done, now you can let that sit on the counter for awhile.  You will need to feed it every day, Google it if you want to know more.  My bread I use about a 1:1 ratio of water to starter.  So for a cup of starter, one cup of water.  You can vary the ratio depending on taste and what June of starter you use.  Tons of variables, if you want to know more about making your own, message me. 

Sweet potato fries.

Things are awesome as is, maybe some kosher salt but that's it..mmm

Burger Redux

And that kids, is how you make awesome food out of leftovers.

Sauce

Deglazed with worcheshire sauce then added some cream, reduce down and sauce is done

Saute

Added mushrooms and onion, the mushrooms sucked up all the butter and burger drippings

Meat patty redux

I'm reheating the burger in a pan, added some butter, I'm trying to get some meaty goodness stuck to the pan to be deglazed later and turned into a sauce

Blanched sweet potato fries

Done blanching, now to wait....tonight these will be tasty fried morsels that would put any restaurant to shame....yes, I have a cooking ego

Another experiment

Have leftover burgers, going to use some mushrooms, onions, and cream to make something fancy....

Soaking the sweetness

I've actually never made sweet potato fries.  Never really had them, had yam fries that were called sweet potato fries, but I want real sweet potato fries.  They are a lot different in terms of cutting into fry shapes, and the texture is different, more fibrous, so I'm going to do an extra long blanch to break down the starched and fibers to make it mushy and gooey.

Sweet Potatoes

What did I find but sweet potatoes!  Not yams, sweet potaters.  You better believe they will be turned into fries, and then the experimentation will begin.

Karans Lunch

Made Karan a turkey and gouda melt.  Only had a bit of turkey left, same with gouda.  When you shop at Costco you tend to eat a lot of one thing, and that is gouda.  Our diet is very heavy in bread and gouda, something that needs to be cut down.  Thinking I'll go on a diet, eat salads and at night have salmon as a snack.

Finished Croutons

Golden brown and delicious.  The garlic seasoning I use has some grated parmesan in it, makes for some good garlic, cheesy goodness.  One of my favorites is cornbread croutons, I need to perfect a cornbread recipe first.  A cook on a tanker I was on made the best cornbread ever, he said the secret was maple syrup.  I have yet to come close to as good a corn bread.

Breakfast of champions

I use cream in my scrambled eggs, then added some green onion on top and time for a high calorie breakfast

Breakfast experiment

I saved half my burger from last night, trying to eat less since I'm getting fat.  I chopped it up, has cheese, onion, and mushroom on it.  Will add a few scrambled eggs to it

Crazy late night experiment

Lots of times you run out of one ingredient and have to try to find a subsitute.  One of my favorite ways of doing fries is to toss them in a mixture of honey and white truffle oil.  I have no honey but have molasses.  So molasses and white truffle oil...my verdict.  It's not bad, need better truffle oil, but the deep flavor of the molasses is interesting.   I think I should do sweet potato fries tossed in molasses and maybe a hint of cinnamon and ginger

Finished Product

And now its done, it has gouda, sauteed onion and mushroom, avocado, and mayo.  On homemade bread.   Overkill? It would be if I added bacon

Deglaze

Deglaze the mushrooms and onions with some worcheshire sauce.

Griddle

Seriously, get one...temp should be 350

Toppings

These baby portobello mushrooms rock.  Saute that with onion and some garlic seasoning....mmm

Burgers

This griddle is the workhorse of re kitchen, cost me a whopping $20 on sale.  Even if it only lasts a year, it only cost $20.  I use it multiple times a day, for pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, and sandwiches.

BEAT YOUR MEAT!

I cringe when I see someone grab a chunk of ground beef and just smoosh it into a roundish shape.  I actually saw someone slicing the meat from the roll to get parties.  This is the dumbest thing you can do!  You HAVE to beat your meat or else you get a burger that falls apart on the grill and makes a big mess.  My beating technique is just grabbing a chunk of beef, then I throw it into the palm of my hand and then throw it into my other hand.  You beat all the air out of it, then form into roundish shapes.  Or square if your name is Wendy

My meat smells delicious

Mmmmmmm meat

GRAB YER MEAT

That's how I mix it, grab and squeeze, grab and squeeze, until it is all moist.  You need some liquid but not too much, if it looks like soup you screwed up.  That was probably 2 lbs of ground beef, 3 tablespoons yoshidas, and 6 dashes of worchestershire.  Smell the meat, it smells good, it will be good.

Burgers

Making burgers tonight, feeling like some yoshidas sauce, a little worcestershire, and johnnys garlic spread for some garlicy goodness.  Karan doesn't like pepper or much spice so I change the ingredients to suit her taste.

Blanching Fries

I would typically blanch my fries at 250 degrees, but this fryer can't do that, so 300 degrees for quite a while actually, maybe 5 minutes.  Since its a cheap small fryer I figure it drops in temperature when the fries go in and it probably can't keep up so it may be at 250.  The first cooking isn't an exact science, I pull the fries up every once in awhile and poke them to see if they are cooked.

Ding Fries are done!

Fried at 375 for a couple minutes, looking for color and when you pull the basket up, you can hear the steam hissing from inside, that is the fries calling you and saying they are done.

Sliced bread

Karan came down wanting some bread, this stuff is good.  Don't know if its good or bad that we snack on bread, beats potato chips.

Bread

The 9x5 pan works well for loaf size.  Makes a good sandwich.  The end pieces and leftovers I use for croutons

Bread

Bread is out of the oven and looks good.

Par cooked fries

I timed it at about 6 minutes on the first fry.  I dump them onto a sheet pan with paper towels on it to soak up the grease.  I'll let them sit and cool at room temperature until they cool enough to handle.  Then into a plastic container and into the fridge.